Day 1361 - Can we afford the cost?

This is a reflection on the New Testament passage in the Revised Common Lectionary for this upcoming Sunday, Luke 14:25-33, used in a bible study at Second Presbyterian Church today, September 1, 2016.

Our passage today, Luke 14:25-33 is quite connected to the last two blog posts, Luke 13:10-17 and Luke 14:1,7-14.  A brief review of them is in order. These two previous passages deal with “living the good life.” By these words, I mean living the life directed by the good news that involved doing the right thing and approaching your walk in the world with humility not pride.

1.Deciding to do the right thing – discernment and humble reliance on the Holy Spirit to guide understanding scripture

In Luke 13:10-17, Jesus demonstrated by personal action that adherence to the law is defined as using scripture to decide to do the right thing. “Doing the right thing” is not defined as adhering to the literal word of the Law written on a scroll or on a stone tablet, it is defined as action that is worthy of worship of the Lord. Healing a woman who is afflicted by an 18-year long illness presumed at the time to be caused by personal sin or possession of an evil spirit is an act of compassion by the Lord and is thereby praiseworthy. This passage forms the basis of Reformed thought, doing the right thing relies upon one’s humble, conscious decision after reading scripture and discerning its guidance by prayer and the Holy Spirit. Making the right decision requires the humility to admit we must rely upon the Holy Spirit for guidance.

2. Wearing the mantle of humility and discarding the cloak of pride is everyday action

In Luke 17, 1, 7-14, we encounter a more “theoretical” circumstance in which Jesus attacks pride, in the form of either jockeying for the best seat at a common meal, or inviting those who can be of advantage to your personal objectives. He concludes that, as he has said before, pride is the barrier to living the good life. Put others first and extend hospitality to all God’s children. A humble spirit whose devotion to divine compassion is written on one’s heart marks the people who are committed to the good life.

Now in Luke 14:25-33, nine short verses later, Jesus turns to the cost of living the humble good life. The issue now is not only, “Are you humble enough to accept the guidance of the Holy Spirit than your own internal prejudice,” and “are you humble enough to put pride aside and seek to welcome all God’s children into the fellowship of the common meal that is a stand in for the congregation of believers.” The issue is now “are you prepared for the consequences of living the good life?”

First read all of today’s passage at this link:  Luke 14:25-33 and then we can break it down.

Jesus poses a rhetorical demands applicable to daily life that has no satisfactory response, and as we shall see in his, demand an action of us that we are hamstrung not to be able to accomplish. The demand is found in verses 25-26. He asks, “Are you willing to put the demands of family behind the demands of (Christian) discipleship?” That is, “Are you willing to drink of the cup I shall drink?”

(1)       ²⁵ Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and said to them, ²⁶ “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.

This question touches many things Jesus has taught or alluded. If you have read Matthew and Mark, already you have been exposed to this demand. Figuratively, “hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself,” refer to the entire value system of the fabric of the world. It refers to everything we desire in the world that we place ahead of compassion for brothers and sisters. Literally, it can refer to family who may demand of us things similar to what the world demands. Who among us is comfortable thinking about that?

If that demand is not enough unsettling enough, Jesus continues to put the demand into a real-life circumstance in verses 28-30, the need to protect oneself. “Building a tower” (v. 28) is a symbolic reference to building a fortification for protection. Today we might think it owning a gun, or even building a wall around our country to keep out danger. It makes this statement one that addresses the need to protect oneself.

But is this a question about building a strong home, or a tall wall around our city, or country to keep people out? By no means! It is a question about whether we are able to build a wall of spiritual discipline that ensures our spiritual safety in the world. Is it possible to do so? The answer is not entirely clear.

These first two questions deal with very real life predicaments but address clearly two primary requirements of living the good life, (1) Are you willing to put the requirements of the good life first, that is are you willing to place loyalty to the commands of Jesus above every competing demand, all the time? (2) Do you have the strength to do it, even if you have the commitment to do it?

Do you recall the disciples asking Jesus who can be saved that we read in Mark 10:23-26? You may want to review the link as we have read it in previous study. Luke will return to these words read in Mark when we get to Chapter 18.

If the extreme demands and steps necessary to do not clearly enough prove themselves that we are forced to admit that the road is hard and narrow and we are not able to do it by our self, Jesus offers a rhetorical question (vv 31-32) after the first two points. The question is intended to those who desire to live the good life, and it describes in a very veiled way the only recourse we have for living the good life.

This question is put in the form of a warrior king facing a battle against a rival with a far superior army. This last question ought to clarify that Jesus is telling his disciples and us that we cannot afford the cost of discipleship, that is, do not have the moral capital for it. It is beyond their abilities. There only recourse is to admit it and seek peace, or in this case, reconciliation with the Lord.

Jesus puts its plainly in his answer to the disciples question of how can anyone be saved in  Mark 10:27 that I repeat here:

²⁷Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.

Reflection

We can’t appreciate today’s passage without fully appreciating the power of what Jesus taught in the last two lessons. Jesus taught us that (1) doing the right thing under the Law requires discernment guided by the Holy Spirit with a large dose of humility that set (literal) answers are not always the right answers; (2) doing the right thing means modifying our approach to the people of the world (all God’s children). We are to be ruled by humility and a sense of humble service that puts the other first and does not judge but welcomes everyone as if we were a house of worship.

The consequence of these two demands are quite costly, perhaps prohibitively so for some. What is the principal cost? It the demand to deny pride and ego and embrace humility.

Few, if any of us take these demands seriously. We read the words, hear the sermons but as Paul says, the appeal of the world to our senses is irresistible. The demands of the world persistently and doggedly undermine the demand of discipleship. At every turn, the impulse to succumb to the fervor of pride and ego seduces us to turn away from humility. For example, perhaps our term on the session has ended and a new elder has taken our responsibilities. we just left the session. We are no longer chair of the committee and the way the next person does it is not the way we would do it. So we snipe or indirectly impede the new way because it is not the way we would do it.

Perhaps we all do this kind of thing because we believe we have the option for a “mulligan,” a do-over. While that is often true, one should forgive “seventy time seven,” but the opportunity for a personal “do-over” is intimately tied to our own mortality. Ultimately, Paul says there is no “do-over.” We know what to do but cannot do it. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3: 21-23).

Our first lesson three weeks ago carries the message that we cannot follow the Law (the leader of the synagogue could not even interpret properly.)  We cannot rely upon our own self. In the end we strive at every turn to “do the right thing” but find we cannot turn from loyalty to the things of the world that appeal to our pride.

What would have happened if Jesus had yielded to the temptation to rely upon his own being, his human pride and said, “I am divine, I can defeat death and not face this task of facing the ultimate cost of humanity, death?” It would defeat the entire oldest statement of faith that Paul gives is in Philippians 2:1-13, an affirmation that puts humility as the highest virtue.

In the last verse of today’s passage Jesus gives the answer in perhaps his greatest testimony to the grace of the Lord: nineteen short words:

³³ So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

You must give everything up to gain everything. I suggest Jesus is telling us our pride, our ego is our greatest possession. It is intimately tied to our humanity.  If humility is written on your heart, you must admit the ultimate irony of desiring the good life. To gain it we must admit we cannot get there from here, and accept fact that we will give everything up in our mortality; saved by the unmerited grace bestowed upon us that lifts us up and places every believer in the good life.  Only God can walk that lonesome valley for you.

Amen